Panganiban in hot water over opinion on Echegaray execution

Four anti-crime groups asked the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday to investigate Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and recommend to Congress that he face impeachment if he is found to have committed graft.

The case was filed by Dante Jimenez of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), lawyer Jose Villegas of Citizens’ Crime Watch, lawyer Ernesto Villagracia of Kilusang Kapatiran Kontra Krimen, and Ben Caralde of Bantay Bayan Foundation.

In filing the case, the anti-crime groups accused Panganiban of committing graft through betrayal of public trust when he declared in a speech that the Supreme Court might have committed a judicial error in affirming the death sentence of convicted rapist Leo Echegaray.

Being an impeachable official, Panganiban cannot be prosecuted by the Office of the Ombudsman.

However, the Office of the Ombudsman could recommend his impeachment before Congress following an investigation.

"If it is true as claimed by Chief Justice Panganiban that accused-appellant Leo Echegaray was neither the father, stepfather nor grandfather of the victim, then the Regional Trial Court Judge of Branch 104, Quezon City who first decided the case and then, the justices who concurred in the Supreme Court decision are guilty of gross inexcusable negligence in failing to appreciate this fact and in affirming the trial court’s erroneous decision to impose the death penalty," read the complaint.

"Moreover, in case Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban cannot prove his allegation or his allegations that the Supreme Court committed judicial error in the death of Echegaray is found to have no basis, he should be recommended for impeachment for his unbecoming conduct, for maligning the name of the institution he represents and for causing erosion of public trust and confidence on the judiciary as a whole.

"It should be noted that no other justice of the Supreme Court has come out in support of the allegation of the Chief Justice. Besides, the case of Echegaray was already resolved with finality by the Supreme Court. Like in other collegial bodies like the Supreme Court, the chief justice is bound by the final resolution of the case and he should have respected the decision.

"He must have a very important reason for assailing the final decision which he made when the President openly moved for the abolition of the death penalty," the complaint stated.

The anti-crime groups said Echegaray was sentenced to death based on the lower court’s finding that Echegaray was either the father or the stepfather of the victim.

However, Panganiban declared that the Supreme Court might have committed a judicial error in imposing the death penalty on Echegaray, the anti-crime groups added.

In an interview after filing the complaint, Villagracia said Panganiban’s statement that the Supreme Court might have committed a judicial error has "eroded the credibility" of the judicial system.

"His statement has tainted the judicial system," he said.

"He said the Court has committed an error. You cannot separate his statement as a private person from his official functions as chief justice."